The ashes remain

 I went to an Ash Wednesday service at my church recently.  It was a very solemn, spiritual time – there were candle, and scripture readings, and communion, and overall a general feeling of holiness that permeated the entire service. 

But the most striking part of the evening didn’t hit me until after I had left the building and returned home.  In Biblical times, Ash Wednesday was so named because it was literally a day when the Israelites put ashes on their heads, to symbolize mourning and repentance.  It was  a day that symbolized the beginning of Lent, a period of 40 days that was meant for God’s people to commune with Him and grow closer to Him.  To remind us of this, my church had put out a literal bowl of ashes, to be used for people who were seeking the same closeness to God that His people experienced in Bible times. 

So I had a friend rub ashes on my forehead.  I kept them on me the entire evening, but when I returned home I naturally wanted to wash them off.  And that is where the most memorable part of the evening lies for me.  Those ashes…would not wash off.  I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed – I must have scrubbed for nearly 20 minutes, until my whole forehead was red and irritated.  But those ashes would not be removed.  It took several days’ worth of scrubbing before I could fully remove all of their traces from my face.

I wonder if that can, in some way, be looked at as a symbol of how God wants to be in our lives, what He wants to teach us throughout the period of Lent and beyond.  He doesn’t want His presence to be something that we can wash off at a moment’s notice.  He doesn’t want to simply be like an article of clothing or accessory, easily removable and interchangeable with something else.  He wants to stay with us.  Just as the ashes stayed with me, He wants to be with us day in and day out.  When we wake up, when we lie down, and every moment in between…He wants to be there.  During this period of Lent, don’t settle for God the accessory.  Make him an integral part of your life.  Don’t simply rub Him on superficially, to be washed away whenever you feel like it.

Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.